Instead I found a text from an unknown number.
Congratulations on the baby, Luna. Such a shame if anything were to happen to it.
My blood went cold. Ice flooded my veins and my heart kicked against my ribs. Every instinct screamed danger but I forced my face to stay neutral.
“What is it?” Knox asked.
“Nothing. Just Mika being dramatic about the supply order.” The lie came too easily. “Everything’s fine.”
But everything wasnotfine. What the fuck was that message?
2
— • —
Knox
I couldn’t shake the feeling that Lina had lied to me last night.
The thought had been eating at me since she’d grabbed her phone and gone still. That look on her face. The way her heartbeat had spiked before she’d forced her expression into something neutral. The smell of fear that had flooded her scent for just a second before she’d buried it.
She’d said it was nothing. Just Mika being dramatic about supply orders.
I wanted to believe her. Needed to believe her. My mate didn’t lie to me. We’d built our entire relationship on brutal honesty after years of secrets and running and pain. She wouldn’t start lying now.
But that look on her face kept replaying in my mind, and my wolf didn’t like it one fucking bit.
I drummed my fingers against the armrest of my chair while Councilman Brennan droned on about property disputes near the eastern border. The council chamber was packed this morning, wolves filling most of the seats arranged in a semicircle facing my position at the head of the room. This space was bigger than most meeting rooms but smaller than the throne room I only used for ceremonies or important pack business. I never liked the vibes of the thrones, too formal and cold, so I avoided that room whenever possible. This one felt more manageable, more personal, though right now it still felt suffocating with how many wolves had shown up with complaints.
Being Alpha meant listening to every single one of them.
Even when my mind was somewhere else entirely.
“Alpha Raven, are you listening?”
I focused on Brennan’s irritated expression. Asshole. “You want to expand the patrol routes near the eastern border because the Hendricks family claims the Dawson family is encroaching on their land.”
“Yes.”
“And you want me to authorize additional guards for what is essentially a neighborly dispute about where one property line ends and another begins.”
Brennan’s jaw tightened. “It’s a matter of principle.”
“It’s a matter of two families who need to learn how to share.” I leaned forward in my chair, letting a bit of alpha authority bleed into my voice. “Tell them to work it out themselves or I’ll redraw both property lines and give the disputed land to the pack. Their choice.”
Murmurs rippled through the chamber. Brennan looked ready to argue but Noah, standing to my right, cleared his throat.
“Next concern,” my brother said smoothly.
An older wolf named Patricia stepped forward. She’d been with the pack for sixty years and had a no-nonsense energy that reminded me of Lina when she was pissed. “The humans visiting Ravenshollow are causing problems.”
“What kind of problems?”
“They’re loud. Disrespectful. Last week a group of them tried to take pictures of the children during school hours. Some of the mothers are concerned.”
That made me sit up straighter. My wolf snarled at the thought of strangers photographing pack children. “Did anyone confront them?”
“Yes. They claimed they were just tourists enjoying the local culture.” Patricia’s mouth twisted. “One of them asked if we were a cult.”
